EAST INDIA COMPANY FACTORY RECORDS:

Sources from the British Library, London

Part 1: China and Japan

Part 2: China
Part 3: Fort St. George (Madras)

Publisher's Note - Part 2

Introduction

Our microfilm series of the Factory Records of the East India Company from the Oriental and India Office Collections at the British Library, London enables scholars to follow the growth in trade of the English with Japan, China and India and will also offer opportunities to learn more about life and society in those countries.

The Factory Records are some of the most interesting of the early papers of the East India Company, detailing as they do the work of their Agents and Factors in establishing factories (trading posts) and promoting trade in the East. Many difficulties had to be overcome, not only the opposition of the native traders but also the other two trading powers of the period, the Portuguese and the Dutch. The seventeenth century was a time of huge establishment of factories by the East India Company and the eighteenth century saw even more expansion as territories acquired by the English grew in number. The major Company factories were situated at Bantam, Surat, Fort St George (Madras), Bombay and Calcutta.

The East India Company was established in 1600 as a joint-stock association of English merchants trading to the “Indies” and it was to continue trading until 1833 when an Act of Parliament opened the trade with the East Indies to all shipping.

Visits of the first Company ships, such as those commanded by James Lancaster, were exploratory with a view to establishing connections and obtaining permission for merchants to settle and set up factories. Factories were run by a chief factor and a council of factors. If an area was particularly successful a group of factories was established known as settlements and governed by an agent and a council. Settlements might then develop into centres known as presidencies administered by an agent. The first factory established by the Company was at Bantam, with several voyages there taking place between 1604 and 1613. The kingdom of Bantam covered most of western Java and southern Sumatra. The market at Bantam was visited by traders from all over Asia and, in addition to pepper which was one of the most important goods on sale, was an incredible range of exotic goods from the East. All the English had to offer was silver and broadcloths and the latter was not a priority for people living in the heat of Asian countries!

Soon the Company’s operations spread to neighbouring islands, such as Polaroon, Rosengin and Amboyna where in1623 the members of the factory were murdered by the Dutch who objected to the English trading there. However by this time the Company had established factories at Achin, Tiku and Priaman in Sumatra; at Bantam and Jakatra in Java; at Sukadana and Banjarmasin in Borneo; at Siam and Patania on the Malay peninsula; at Hirado in Japan; at Surat, Calicut, Cranganore, Patna, Agra and Masulipatam in India. They also had factories at Jask and Gombroon and at Mocha in the Red Sea.

Most employees lived communally, taking their meals together and spending all their time in each other’s company. Relationships with Asian women occurred on a regular basis and drink came high on their list of priorities. Many also succumbed to diseases such as cholera, typhoid and malaria. Salaries were very low and the only means of obtaining some sort of fortune was to partake in private trading which the Company in time did make legal. Merchants were allowed to trade from port to port in Asia in all but a few goods which were reserved for the Company and were also allowed to send precious stones, carpets and textiles back to England.

China Factory Records, 1596-1840

From an early date the East India Company had made efforts to trade with China to obtain silks and porcelain. Voyages were made to the East intermittently in the first half of the seventeenth century and at first the Company was represented in East Asia by factories in Taiwan and Tonkin (North Vietnam) which were opened in 1672. But the first foothold on mainland China was not gained until 1676, when Company merchants were given permission to trade at Amoy, Canton and Chusan. East India Company trade with China started in earnest in 1762 with the establishment of a factory at Canton.

Up to 1680, the trade with China was conducted by country ships freighted by the Company’s factory at Bantam, but it was then decided to employ ships freighted direct from England. By 1715, ships were despatched yearly with a supercargo appointed to each ship. Their role was to look after the cargo on the ship and to manage commercial operations on shore in China. Until 1754 the supercargoes did not stay there but travelled back and forth on the Company’s ships. But from the latter end of the eighteenth century some of them did remain in China. The supercargoes sometimes formed Councils, either one for each ship, or two or more to supervise two or more ships and sometimes these Councils were combined into one Council while at Canton. In 1755 there were three Councils at Canton, and one of them remained until 1756; similarly another Council resided from 1756 to 1757 and another from 1757 to 1758. Thereafter there was always only one Council of Resident Supercargoes for all ships.

Until the mid nineteenth century the factories at Canton were based on a stretch of land between the city walls and the river and Europeans were not allowed into the city. The ships anchored and received their cargoes off the island of Whampoa. The three main commodities were tea, silk textiles and porcelain. But tea was the most important. It was adopted by the upper classes as a healthy drink and by the late eighteenth century accounted for more than 60% of the Company’s total trade. Porcelain for everyday domestic use was also imported into England in massive quantities but very little profit was made on this commodity.

In the eighteenth century opium was highly sought after by the Chinese and in 1773 the Company assumed the monopoly of opium growing in Bengal. Company ships were not allowed to carry opium so it was smuggled into China by traders and agency houses. Cash received from Chinese drug-runners at Lintin was paid into the Company’s factory at Canton and by 1825 most of the money needed to buy tea in China was raised by the opium trade. The Opium War of 1840 with the Chinese, fought over the trade in opium, resulted in the English seizing Hong Kong. The Company’s monopoly on the China trade was abolished in 1833 with an agent remaining in Canton until 1840.

The Factory Records for China can be found in Parts 1 and 2 of our publication and the following information has been annotated to show which records can be found in which part.

• Diaries of the Council in China (records of daily activities)
Part 1: 1721-1815 and Part 2: 1815-1834

• Consultations of the Council in China (records of administrative decisions, purchases and sales and of correspondence)
Part 1: 1721-1815 and Part 2: 1815-1834

• Diaries of the supercargoes of the ships
Part 1: 1737-1751

• Papers of the Board of Control
Part 1: 1753-1822

• Canton Diary of Chinese debts
Part 1: 1779-1781

• Miscellaneous papers – journals of voyages, diaries of factors such as James Naish at Canton and Macao, letters including copies sent by the Court of Directors of the Company to the factors and instructions to ships’ captains
Part 1: 1596-1815

• Canton Financial Consultations
Part 2: 1834

• Canton Commercial Consultations
Part 2: 1832-1834

• Canton Factory Consultations
Part 2: 1832-1834

• Canton Agency Consultations
Part 2: 1834-1840

• Despatches to China
Part 2: 1829-1832

• Letters received from China
Part 2: 1823-1832

• China Select Committees Secret Consultations
Part 2: 1793-1832

• Superintending Committee’s Consultations
Part 2: 1792-1794

“In a world where long-distance communication was only as fast as the speed of a sailing ship, the Company Directors in London faced two problems – how to take and manage decisions, and how to keep their servants [...] industrious, sober and honest. The first was perhaps less of a problem than the second. All business at all stages was carried out in writing... The result survives today as the massive East India Company Archive, deposited in the British Library.”

Anthony Farrington
‘Trading Places: The East India Company and Asia’ (2002)

“A maritime empire based on free trade was an improbable legacy from a mercantilist and monopolistic entity like the Honourable Company.”

John Keay
‘The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company’ (1991)

Part 2: China Factory Records, 1817-1832 includes topics for a wide spectrum of research. Each of the volumes generally incorporates a very useful index to the contents.

• Details on the arrival and departure of EIC ships at Canton, Malacca and Macao
• Lists of stock held in the factory at Canton
• Instructions from the Select Committee of supercargoes to captains of ships regarding the amount of tea of different types to be purchased
• Canton Treasury Reports showing monies received and expenses
• Details on the opium trade with an analysis of the consumption and value of opium in China for 1832
• Seamen’s and officers’ wages
• The decrease in the sale of broadcloth and of cotton
• Instructions from the Select Committee on how to deal with damaged goods
• Estimates for the rebuilding of factory warehouses
• An inventory of the crockery and silver being used by the Canton factory
• Papers relating to Lord McCartney’s Embassy to China
• Papers relating to Lord Amherst’s Embassy to China
• Details on private trade carried out by ships’ officers
• “Tea Reports” - statistics showing merchants, the type of tea and whether it was accepted as being in good condition or rejected

The extract below is taken from correspondence relating to Lord Amherst’s Embassy to China:

“22nd Feb 1815
The Chairman communicated to the Court a letter… from John Barrow Esq … suggesting for the reasons therein stated, a Mission to the Court of Pekin in order to announce the restoration of general peace in this quarter of the world; and of congratulating the Emperor upon his recent escape from assassination….”

The next extract is from the Secret Commercial Drafts to China, November 1813-March 1832:

“26 Nov 1813

From the best information we can obtain of the merchants and indeed from our own observation, the consumption of Tea is gradually but regularly increasing in Great Britain & Holland and it is said to be in greater use than formally upon the Continent of Europe. In the United States of America and the British American Colonies, Tea is in general use….”

The following extract is from the Select Committee’s Secret Consultations, March 1820-April 1822:

1820 Altho’ it may be hoped that the Mahore Opium may ultimately be obtained of a quality little inferior to the Opium of Behar and Benares, it will yet be proper that the purchasers of Opium in China, and the Custom Markets, show to have the means of distinguishing the two descriptions….”

The last extract is from Letters received from China, March 1823-March 1825:

“Experimental Consignment of Emerald Green, Bright Crimson & Pale Yellow. The Consignment noted in the paragraph under reply consisted of an abaonment? Totally unfit for the Canton Market being colors to which the Chinese can attach no use….”

The Factory Records of the East India Company for China are an invaluable research tool for scholars interested in the history of the maritime trade, the origins of global commerce and the establishment of trading networks in Asia.The Factory Records for India, covering Fort St George (Madras), Calcutta and Bombay will be covered in Parts 3-6 of our publication.

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